John Calvin Commentary Psalms 22:14

"I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted within me." — Psalms 22:14 (ASV)

I am poured out like water. Until now he has informed us that being surrounded by wild beasts, he was not far from death, as if he had been at the point of being devoured every moment. He now laments, in addition to this, his inward distress, from which we learn that he was not unfeeling or insensible in dangers.

It could have been no ordinary fear that made him almost pine away, by which his bones were disjointed, and his heart poured out like water. We see, then, that David was not buffeted by the waves of affliction like a rock that cannot be moved, but was agitated within by severe troubles and temptations, which, through the infirmity of the flesh, he would never have been able to sustain had he not been aided by the power of the Spirit of God.

How these sufferings are applicable to Christ, I have informed you a little earlier. Being a real man, He was truly subject to the infirmities of our flesh, only without the taint of sin. The perfect purity of His nature did not extinguish the human affections; it only regulated them so that they might not become sinful through excess. The greatness of His griefs, therefore, could not so weaken Him as to prevent Him, even in the midst of His most excruciating sufferings, from submitting Himself to the will of God with a composed and peaceful mind.

Now, although this is not the case for us, who have within us turbulent and disorderly affections and can never keep them under such restraint as not to be driven here and there by their impetuosity, yet, after David's example, we ought to take courage. When, through our infirmity, we are, as it were, almost lifeless, we should direct our groanings to God, beseeching Him to graciously restore us to strength and vigor.